"The songs on HIJK's full-length debut, The Pen and the Letter, seem to flow effortlessly together like a well-planned symphony" - West Coast Performer

"A supremely successful partnership" - Amplifier Magazine

"The Pen and the Letter is made up of dark, yet poppy indie rock. It's melodic and catchy... full of sudden twists and turns that make the listening experience somewhat addictive" - Nascent

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Equally inspired by Pinback, Bloc Party, Metric, and Modest Mouse, Oakland, California's art-rockers HIJK have a habit of turning conventional pop techniques upside down. Consisting of singer/guitarist David Tsui, singer/bassist/keyboardist Michael Mahony, and drummer Trevor Wencl, the band was formerly known as Hijack The Disco before becoming HIJK.

Mahony and Tsui met each other in college, and Wencl joined their collaboration in 2003. Under the name Hijack The Disco, the trio issued a demo in early 2004 and wrote another in 2005; a year later, Panic! At the Disco forced them to switch their name to HIJK.

The group's live performances began to attract attention from both the press and their peers; Mahony approached Enrique Gonzalez Müller (Kronos Quartet, Nine Inch Nails, L'Aura), who spent the next year and a half producing their first full-length effort, The Pen and the Letter.

The record, on their own HIJK Music label, was released in August, 2007 to very positive critical reviews. In The Pen and the Letter, HIJK's distinctive dueling vocals, angular rhythms, and triple-barbed melodies are augmented by accordions, singing-saws, trumpets, scissors, and violas -- triumphantly capturing HIJK's compelling live performance and highlighting the unique interplay between the three members.

HIJK has recently shared the stage with: Straylight Run, Cloud Cult, Cold War Kids, Heavenly States, Birdmonster, Hard-Fi, Diamond Nights, White Rose Movement, Scissors For Lefty, The Velvet Teen, Sabrosa Purr, Lemon Sun, Aveo, Kissing Tigers, Oneida, Cex, The Mendoza Line, and Rainer Maria amongst others.